48 Hours - FindJodi

Episode Date: August 13, 2026

In 1995, Jodi Huisentruit was a news anchor in Iowa, but when she didn't arrive at work for her morning assignment, police began investigating her disappearance. Over three decades later, her body has never been found, and the question remains: what happened to Jodi? "48 Hours" correspondent Jim Axelrod reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/1/2019. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays and stream on demand on Paramount+.

At this hour, investigators still have few clues about where Jody, who's in truth might be. The FBI is now involved in the case and they're beginning to concentrate their efforts on... Search dogs turn up clues, but tonight it remains untested evidence. Where is she? Who knows something who hasn't come forward? Caroline Lowe is in Tiff in Iowa with an update right now, Caroline? Well, Amelia, tonight there's a stained silo door. Being a journalist, I know what gets covered, and that's why we do things like billboards to try to get the attention. attention.

We really wish we weren't here today. 23 years later, what happened to Jody is still a mystery. You are watching News Channel 3 Day Break. The time is 6 o'clock, 64 degrees, some light showers falling in North Iowa. Jody grew up in Minnesota. Then she went to Mason City in 1993 to become reporter Morning Anchor. This morning our morning anchor, 27-year-old Jody, who's in fruit, apparently disappeared. She was running late.

It appeared that Jody had been attacked from behind and then dragged away from her car, and her stuff is scattered behind. I called her and I talked to her. She was there. It sounded like I woke her up. Her first question was, what time is it? I said, Jodd, it's 10 after 4 you need to come in. That was the last contact anybody has had with Jody. It's been 38 hours now since anyone has spoken to Jody who's intrude?

Good evening, everyone. I had such a strange collision of emotions. Residents from all across North Iowa are in turn feeling the emotion and the desperation for Jody's safe return. And I thought, I know her so well, and all of these folks who are watching on TV right now feel like they really know her too. They had her in their home every morning, and they loved her. Way to go, Kevin. She has a hard last name. Who's in truth? After the 27th of June, she's Jody.

Doesn't need a last name anymore. She'll always be just Jody. The clock was ticking. I'm John Schein from KIMT Television Mason City, Iowa. We need your help. One of our news anchors is missing. It's been 42 hours since we last heard from our dear friend Jody. There are lots and lots of theories. How would you classify John Van Sice?

I would classify him as a friend. Jody spent more time with John Van Sice in the last month that she was in Mason City than anybody that we know of. And he said I was the last person to see her. I interviewed him the next day. Have the police indicated whether or not you're a suspect? No, they haven't to be any indication. They've interviewed me twice, but they haven't to be any indication I'm a suspect.

Is there anybody live? The Mason City Police said they're now concentrating their efforts on 12 people. There's been no detainments, there's only been the people that have been interviewed. It could be somebody we least expect. Did she ever expressed concern that she was being stalked? Yes. Yeah. This case is not going to go away.

We're never going to get about it. You've got a couple of investigators out. You want to go back this way? These are phone in tips, psychic leads. We have never closed the case. It's never been a cold case for us. It's been an active investigation since it happened. But we're 23 years in.

Right. I'm not ready to quit yet. The more we keep this story alive, it might just unlock the puzzle. I may be walking around with Mike King and maybe in a wheelchair, but I am staying on this until we find Jody. somebody knows something is it you relay sound of music I'm going to send things right back to the studio thank you very much Sarah

are they or are they not and things are just being questioned right now here's a look at what we're working on for KIMT News 3 at 5 the yellow ribbon is still there 23 years after anchor Jody Hoosentrude vanished on her way to work in Mason City Iowa I said earlier there's no way they still have

those old desks, but... And here it is. Here it is. Jody's old desk still occupies the same spot in the K-I-MT-TV newsroom. I'm certain it is. Doug Murbach was the news director back then. I haven't been back in 15 years.

Robin Wolfram was also an anchor. Makes me sad to be right here for some reason. Sad and then peaceful, too. Jody was more than a colleague. She was a friend. What words pop into mind when you think of Jody? I think the first word that always comes to my mind is effervescent. Good Thursday morning, welcome to day of break.

June 15th already. I'm Jody who's in truth. And people would often describe her as bubbly. Kind of a bright light in the morning to get people started for the day. She was your cup of Joe in the morning. Yeah, a lot of energy. Fame, I want to live forever. This was not going to be her last stop, Mason City.

She always talked about being on national television. We always would have these conversations, the two of us. She was beautiful. She was engaging. She was smart. The only thing she had to overcome was that Minnesota accent. President Clinton leaves this morning for the Group of Seven Summit in Nova Scotia. And she was working hard on that.

She was working really hard on that one. But Jody Hoosentrude's dream of making it big ended the morning of Tuesday, June 27, 1995. The anchor of KIMT's 6 AM newscast, she usually arrived. arrived at work by 3.30 in the morning. If she's not there between 3.30 and 4, I give her a call, say, hey, are you awake? Producer Amy Coons noticed nothing unusual when she called and woke Jody up about 10 after 4 that morning. She was asking about the show. She was concerned about the show, and she said, I'll be right there.

But at 5.30, still know Jody. And this being a time before cell phones, Amy tried her at home again and got her answering machine. At 6 a.m., Amy had a step up and deliver the news in Jody's place. She loves her show. She calls it her show. You know, she wouldn't miss it for anything. The police were called shortly after seven. When they arrived to Jody's apartment, she wasn't home, but they found her shoes, hair dryer, and keys scattered on the ground near her beloved red Mazda Miata. Jack Schleeper was police chief then. We do have things that would make us believe that there could.

B-file play here. There were also apparent drag marks near her car, signs of a struggle. The vehicle was processed on the outside. We did process it for fingerprints. Police found someone's palm print on the car. Special canine units quickly began a search of Jody's apartment complex and the banks of the Winnebago River. This is News Channel 3's Evening Edition. Police are investigating the disappearance, but aren't saying much else at this time. That evening, KIMT's lead story was the devastating news about one of its own. Jody, who's in truth was and still is a very dear friend of mine as well as all of us here at KIMT,

and we're inviting all of you to join us and keeping her and her family in your prayers this evening. Toughest thing you've ever done in your career, Robin? Probably, yeah. I don't know what it looked like to the viewer, but I just know inside it was, a mess. Police descended on the newsroom, searching Jody's desk for any evidence of an angry or obsessed viewer. Had Jody's natural warmth made her a target? You know, she went grocery shopping and it took her two hours because she talked to three people along the way and she always had time for everybody. Joanne Nathie is Jody's sister. She definitely was too

So not thinking that maybe some of those people watching her had their own potentially troubling ideas. Yeah, that's what I worry about, that she, you know, was too personable. Way to go, Kevin. I'm getting there slowly. Way to keep me in check. Revealing too much maybe what she did day-to-day. I live by a big swimming pool and I can hear the children swimming and splashing and yelling. Every one she met loved her.

Do you know how many people think she was her best friend? Stacey Steinman and Kim Feist actually were Jody's best friends. She remember when she nicknamed us all stupid things? And her nickname was Focus. She wanted us to call her Focus. They grew up together in the small town of Long Prairie, Minnesota. In high school, Jody lived up to her nickname when she helped the golf team win two state championships.

She just doesn't fail. What would she say about what she wanted to achieve? achieve in life. She wanted to be famous. Yeah. She wanted to be famous. And she knew that in high school, that she wanted to be a news anchored.

The Twin Cities metro area is among the top 20 areas in the nation in total population. Jody pursued her dream at St. Cloud State University with a starring role on the school's TV station. Joel, I'm not clowning around and I say our show has to come to a close. She was just 25 when she landed the 6 a.m.

and noon anchor slots at KIMT. ...joining us the time right now, 6.30 right on the button. Now she was gone. Jody vanished just days before she was to be in Stacey's wedding party, leaving Stacey to struggle with whether to go ahead with it. A good friend of ours was a priest, and we were just like, what do we do?

He said, now's a good time to keep people together. This is when we need prayer and pray for her, and don't cancel the wedding. It's been 38 hours now since anyone has spoken to Jody Who's Intrute. Our News Channel 3 co-anchor disappeared yesterday morning. June 28, 1995, the investigation was expanding. We had to ask for the FBI to give us some assistance. And Jody's story was national news.

Fear is growing in one Iowa farm town. Someone is missing, not a face in the crowd, but one of the most familiar. faces in town. It just struck me as so, I don't know, so sad. And I was just sick. And I thought, this is not what we meant about being on national news. Yellow ribbons there, yellow ribbons there.

Everywhere you go, all along the road. News director, Doug Murbach, was overwhelmed by Mason City's show of support after Jody disappeared 23 years ago. It really gives you a boost to know that people care. they really love Jody. She was not just a person on TV every morning. She was our friend. Somebody's got to know something to bring her home.

It's now been nearly two and a half days since the person who usually sits in this chair disappeared. June 29th, 1995. Investigators say they've now narrowed their focus to around a dozen people they'd like to continue questioning. The police also revealed Jody had reported a possible stalker nine months before she disappeared. We did find out that Jody did make a report of an incident that occurred when she was out jogging.

How long ago was that report? I believe that was in October of 1994. She got shook up one day when she was out hiking or jogging on a trail, and a black truck had followed her. But the police never got to the bottom of that incident, and Jody never reported another one. And now Joanne Nathie was pleading on TV for her baby sister, return.

I just pray that whoever has are out there, they'll just remember she's so sweet and good. She'd never hurt anyone. Just let her go. It's been 84 hours now, Jody, who's in truth, the 27-year-old colleague of ours, disappeared three and a half days ago. She was supposed to arrive. June 30th. The fire department has intensified its search in the Winnebago River.

Okay, you'll put that line across at the highway bridge. in case a body has floated to the surface. It's a scenario no one wants to think about. I've never personally talked with Jody, but myself and everyone else doesn't want to find Jody this way. July 1st, this announcement. We are now officially classifying this as an induction.

Several neighbors have told police they heard a scream around the time Jody disappeared, but no one had called for help. This type of white van was also seen in the parking lot that morning. I couldn't even walk outside in the dark because I was so afraid of how it happened in Jody's parking lot. You had a police escort?

Mm-hmm. Home. Whoever took Jody seemed to be familiar with her schedule. Could it have been someone she knew? To find out, investigators were piecing together the last days of Jody's life. And this man popped up on their radar by declaring he'd been the last person to see Jody alive.

They've interviewed me twice, but they haven't given me any indication I'm going to suspect. Jody's friend John Van Sice told Robin in an interview that Jody had visited his home the night before she was abducted. She was laughing the whole time she was there and she laughed at the time she left. How did he strike you? Way too happy and gleeful and he wanted to be interviewed. She was like a daughter told me. She was just like my own child. I treat her like my own child. So who exactly is John Van Seiss?

Drilling down into that question is complicated by the passage of time. But this certainly helps. 23 years ago, days after Jody disappeared, 48 hours was in Mason City, and we spent time with a man who had put himself at the center of the case. Honestly, she's alive somewhere. I just hope she's not hurt. I hope she's okay.

I hope she'd come back so. Back in 1995, we caught up with John Van Sice and Jody's close friend, Ani Cruz, Dockside, where we learned the three often water skied off his boat. Van Sice certainly wasn't hiding or acting like someone under a cloud of suspicion. She wouldn't want to sit around home and cry and sob if she'd want to be out having fun

because that was her. Isn't her? It is. Everything is. It is, huh. She's coming back. We're ready for her. In the days directly after Jody disappears, you're speaking in present tense.

She was one of my closest friends. You know, she was coming home. I really thought that. Van Sice, who was a seed salesman, was recently divorced. He had once lived in Jody's apartment complex, but Jody and Anni had met him at a bar. He offered device. both the drinks and just started talking to him and didn't know how he felt about him

and then we met him again and again. Although he was 22 years older than Jody, he became part of her inner circle. Just a bunch of people, Riga along, fine, together, and have a good time. Two weeks before Jody disappeared, Van Sice helped Donnie throw a surprise birthday party for her. That's the water skiing cake. Yeah, and you look at the pictures and she's smiling.

She's so beautiful and happy and she's in her prime. Then the weekend before Jody's abduction, she and Annie were out on Van Sice's boat. This is News Channel 3's daybreak. On Monday, Jody was back at work for the last time. Good Monday morning. Welcome to daybreak. It's June 26th. I'm Jody, who's in truth.

That afternoon, she played in a charity golf tournament where she complained she'd been getting some prank phone calls. She told some people this golf tournament. that she was going to have to change her phone number or do something or go to the police. It was later that Monday evening that Van Sice claims Jody came over to his home to watch a video of that surprise birthday party. And we watched the tape and we chuckled and we laughed, we giggled,

he hailed, we did everything and said, we're going to cut this portion out of the tape, we got this portion out of the tape, then we laugh about it. The next morning, Jody was gone. Would John Van Sice have a real thing? reason to harm her. Ani couldn't think of any. Without a doubt, I had no question.

There's no possibility in my mind he could have ever. The police were also asking Ani what she knew. The investigators are asking you about John Bancis. Yes. And you're saying it couldn't be John. No, he's our friend. For me, I'm thinking, why would

you hurt somebody that brought so much joy in your life? But Robin had long suspected that Van Sice had feelings for Jody. that weren't mutual. I truly believe that he had very strong and deep feelings for Jody. And something he told her back then sent chills down her spine. I named my boat after her just because she's Jody.

You can't help with love the woman. You just can't help with love her. When he said I named my boat after her, that's when I said, ugh, that's an obsession. I remember holding onto the microphone and just feeling so illity. and thinking to myself, I think you might have done it. In the fall of 1995,

some three months after Jody Hoos and Truth disappeared, her family allowed a local TV reporter inside her apartment. Well, it's definitely a little strange being in here. There were no obvious signs of a struggle. Dishes were still piled up in the sink. It would be clearly this is a woman who was just headed out to work. Had Jody taken the time to neatly. make the bed before rushing to work?

Other people had been in the apartment, so we don't know for sure. There's apparently a message for her on the answering machine. A message she never had a chance to retrieve. She'll be back, except have patience. We can't be down because Jody wouldn't want him. John Van Sice remained under suspicion. 48 hours has learned Jody befriended him during what seems to have been a turbulent time in his life.

There was his recent divorce, and he'd been ordered to install a breathalazer device in his van. He had a series of arrests related to drunken driving. Did John's life improve just through his connection to Jody? Absolutely. She brought so much joy into his life, and he didn't have a lot of friends, and all of a sudden now he's kind of accepted. You know, he's hanging out with us. We're having fun.

Ani Cruz says Jody thought. brought Van Seis understood the boundaries in their relationship. She knew. She knew he had an interest, but just blew it off. He's like a father to me. She made that mention quite a few times. In front of him? Yeah, yeah.

But some of Jody's friends doubted he got the message. I cautioned her. I said, Jody, there's going to come a point in time when he's going to want more. When she told us he named his boat after her, we go, That was our, like... Kay, Jody. Something's weird. This is a little much.

But she didn't see it as odd. No, she laughed. I think she was, like, honored. Like, hey, it's kind of cool. Jody's sister Joanne and other family members met John Van Sice a few days after Jody's disappearance. You were a fun-loving group. We were.

We had a blast together. We just laugh and laugh and laugh and clap. 48 hours was there as Van Sice told them about his friendship with Jody. I just love to watch and have funds. Joanne found his demeanor on. I tried to watch over. I try to check on it once in a while.

Not all the time, just once in a while. I'm saying how she gets home. In my mind, there's a good chance that he is linked to Jody's case, some way or other. What makes you say that? It's just that he was so obsessed with her. They'd better go to the apartment. She didn't mention his clothes.

They didn't mind. The bag I had a shirt she liked. You know, I'd work for a while, but I'd get it to her. But Van Seitz has never been arrested. He's never been named a suspect. I know. He hasn't. It's been 23 years. I know.

If he is the one, let's get the evidence. But we have to be objective. We have to have an open mind. It could be somebody we least expect. Looking back 23 years later, Ani now believes Van Seis could have harmed Jody. When you think maybe it was John, what would his motive have been? Maybe being rebuffed. Maybe finally saying to her,

I'm not your father. I want to be your boyfriend. That's the only thing I can think of. But the thing that has always puzzled me, like, why in the morning in the parking lot? Could what was in that parking lot have had something to do with it? 48 hours obtained a copy of a search warrant for Jody's 1991 Miopi, and learned it was not in her name when she vanished. It reads this license is listed to John Lassard, the previous owner, pending title transfer.

John Lassard is a prominent businessman. He told 48 hours the sale to Jody was arranged by a friend who was a car salesman. The friend has since died, but his son remembers the sale. She worked hard for that. She was proud of getting that car. She was excited about it. And that car seemed to be on John Van Sice's mind.

His close friend, Ladonna Woodford, claims he told her the car was a birthday gift to Jody from a boyfriend. He said, but she doesn't like, want the car, she's going to give it back to him. She never said anything about a gentleman buying it or paying for it or anything like that. So I think that's hogwash. Inconceivable to you. Yeah. Lassard says the only time he met. that Jody was to hand her the car keys.

Ani says Van Sice had a history of jealousy when it came to Jody. If we were out somewhere, if she was visiting with somebody, he would come join the conversation. Just swoop in? Pretty much, yeah. He wanted to make sure that everybody knew Jody was his.

But Lidonna insists Van Sice had no romantic interest in Jody and no reason to hurt her. When he'd talk about Jody, It was like I'm protecting her. She's like my daughter. What if on June 26th and then into the morning of June 27th, what if John Van Seiss had picked then to share with Jody that he wanted to take it to the next level?

And people always ask me that question, and this is what I say. He would not do it where they think he did it, where she was abducted. He used to live in those apartments. Everybody knows him. The Donna feels Van Sice has been unfairly singled out by police and the community. It's just so horrible what they've done to him.

He lost his best friend. And it's sad. It's really sad. And LaDonna says she knows where Van Sice was the morning Jody was abducted. He was out taking a walk with her. It was their routine. As you walk through this neighborhood, did he seem anxious? Didn't seem anxious. He seemed himself. And nothing seemed unusual when she called earlier to confirm their plans.

I called John, 6 o'clock in the morning. I say, hey, John, are we going to work out today? You felt when you called him that morning that he was up there sleeping. Yeah, absolutely. We didn't have cell phones, so I know he was home. And that is why Lidonna believes she is his alibi. I called her and I talked to her. She was there. Remember, Jody's producer spoke to her at around 4.10 a.m. Ladonna believes that Van Sice, even though he lived only five minutes away, would not have had enough time to abduct Jody, possibly dispose of her body,

and be home by 6 a.m. I know the time frame of when I called him, when I met with him, when we walked. It's almost impossible for him to have done this. Police finally confirmed in the fall of 1995 that Van Sice had passed a polygraph test, something he'd been telling friends all along. But he remained on their radar. And soon, another man would join him. Tony Jackson is a predator.

You got to look at this guy. May 4, 1996. We're going to head down to the river. Nearly a year after Jody disappeared. Gary, this is Anni. Annie Cruz was holding on to a sliver of hope follow the river. That her friend could still be found.

They said 18 to 19. We hope to find any type of evidence. Ooh, yuck. Any type of clues, you know, earrings, purse, anything that we can find. She led a search party through woods. Start curbing back here. The river's over here.

Two miles from Jody's apartment. Ah, you're just outside. Despite Ani's efforts, nothing was found. Two and a half years after Jody vanished. Someone else, someone 140 miles away, started her own search for answers. To test potential evidence in the Jody Hughes and Trude case. Caroline Lowe was an investigative reporter at WCCO TV in Minneapolis. She started reporting on Jody while covering a terrifying crime spree in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

I covered a serial rapist who was accused of raping four women in 18 days. The rapist was this man, Tony Jackson. He was arrested in 1997. After a routine traffic stop, police found in his car the tools of his trade. He's got rope, he's got handcuffs, he's got his gun, he's got duct tape. Basically, it's a rape kit. Jay Albarrio, formerly a detective with the Woodbury, Minnesota Police Department, worked the Jackson case.

All the victims that we know of, there is an element of stocking. Jay explored Tony Jackson's past. He learned Jackson was living in Iowa when Jody disappeared. And not just anywhere. The background investigation puts him in Mason City, two blocks from the TV station that Jody worked at. This is where Jackson lived. This is where Jody worked.

Two blocks. It's chilling. It was like a bolt. When you see that, you go, wow. This guy may be involved in Jody's case. We need to get this information down to the Mason City authorities. Caroline visited the Mason City police three months after Jay had sent them the Jackson information. She noticed the filed didn't seem to hold much interest.

Woodbury police sent Mason City a fat file about the Twin Cities rapes, a file that has been gathering dust. Minnesota sent me a copy. So that was really nice of them. Caroline was trying to get answers to questions about Jackson's past. She learned he was once a promising college basketball player at Iowa's Waldorf College. He was a star basketball player.

The problem is he would do well and then he would snap. And he would get into violent episodes with people, and he was kicked out of the college. Then, a year and a half before Jody disappeared, he enrolled at North Iowa Community College in Mason City, where he showed an interest in broadcasting. He does a couple of talk shows. And so is it your thought that to start watching the people in town who are on TV doing the news? Sure, he's going to watch them, see how they go about doing their job. The time is 6-11, 62 degrees.

Jays' theory is Jackson might have watched Jody on TV, known her schedule, and even stalked her. Caroline also learned something that troubled her. When he snapped, he snapped. She spoke with an ex-girlfriend of Jackson's who said they broke up five days before Jody vanished. And it was violent, very violent. I mean, it was a totally different person.

It was like the devil stepped inside of him and just took over. I sat in the living room with this girl, and she looks a lot like Jody. It was chilling. The woman did get back together briefly with Jackson until she says his anger took another scary turn. And she described how he had tried to choke her, and they took him into custody. Although Jackson was arrested for that attack, the charges were ultimately dropped when the woman moved away. and declined to proceed. Four months later, he would go on to commit the Minnesota rapes.

The verdict is guilty on all counts for a local man accused of being a serial rapist. Jackson was sentenced to the equivalent of life in prison. Still, Caroline kept digging into any connection to Jody's case. I want to get this guy as bad as the police do, you do. She learned about a former jailmate of Jackson's. He says I abducted an anchor woman and killed her. The man said Jackson boasted about what he'd done in a rap song, not wanting to forget the lyrics, the jailmate wrote them down.

Yeah, he said, she's a stiffen around Tiffin, and pylitch, assailich, and a bilo low below. Thinking that might mean Jody was buried in a farm, near a silo in the town of Tiffin, A few hours from Mason City, Caroline headed there. She brought law enforcement. So this would be the entry. And cadaver dogs.

I'll work this side and meet you in the back. To search for human remains. Two of the three dogs alerted, which was a sign that something had been there. And the boards that they found there were sent to the state crime lab. But like so often in Jody's case, the lead led nowhere. Any forensics tying Tony Jackson to Jody? None that we know of, none. On May 5th, 1999, the Mason City Police issued the following statement.

After conducting a thorough investigation, which included interviews, crime laboratory analysis, records review, and polygraph examination, Tony Jackson is not considered at this time a viable suspect in the investigation. Boy, I tell you, I've one of one. about him, too, he's on the list. Jody's sister Joanne can't close the book on Jackson. He's a rapist and living in the area. But the police say no, that there was no way. And I don't know, though.

48 hours wanted to ask Jackson about Jody's case, but he declined to speak with us. He would not answer specific questions, but in a rambling email, wrote, I stand firm in my integrity regarding the Jody who's intrude case. I'm going right now. And so the hunt for clues crawls on with another look at John Van Sice. Hi, John. My name's Jim Axelrod. I'm with the CBS News broadcast 48 hours.

John Van Sice's friend, Ladonna Woodford, says roughly two years after Jody's disappearance, she received a visit from an FBI agent. And he said, I have a subpoena for you to appear at the grand jury to testify for John Van Seiss. They're trying to indict him. And I was like, really? Like, are you kidding me? Ladonna is going public with this information for the first time. I went into the grand jury and I just told my story what I knew.

LaDonna says she was questioned about John Van Seis for five hours. What do they have on John? Why did I have to go to this grand jury? Why were they trying to indict him? Because at the end of the day, you don't think it's going to be him. I'd be shocked. Did you ever have any contact with the FBI again after that? Mm-mm.

There would be no indictment of John Van Seiss. Police continued to work the case and the mystery of who abducted Jody remained. So, yeah, it was hard. You know, they weren't solving it. We weren't finding her. On May 14, 2001, now six years after Jody disappeared, she was declared legally dead.

Jody's family was forced to make the tough decision in order to settle her estate. That's like the end of the chapter. That's like the end of the book. But you still had hope, even though you know, realistically your mind is saying, you know, she's probably not coming home. And despite the hundreds of leads, detectives generated early in the investigation.

Over time, tips slowed to a trickle, and fewer detectives were assigned to the case. That's when, in 2003, journalists Gary Peterson and Josh Benson created the website, Findjody.com. They were later joined by a team of former reporters and retired detective, Jay Albert. Who's going to consistently look for Jody if we don't do it? She's one of ours. Their goal? To keep Jody's story alive and to crack the case. Did you feel they were overmatched the Mason City police investigators?

I think this is a very big case. I think this is something that they were not accustomed to dealing with. From the beginning, Ani says she was concerned with how detectives processed the crime scene. You know, I was very surprised it was. not sectioned off. The whole area wasn't police taped off? Not the first day or so. But there's all kinds of evidence that could have gotten compromised.

That's what I thought. And what about Jody's car? A key piece of evidence. That car was the only crime scene they have. This is a case with so little evidence. Until they find her body, they don't have another crime scenes. That car is your crime scene. But investigators didn't hold on to that car for very long.

It was released to Jody's. family just a couple of months after she disappeared. So if the car is your crime scene, why would they give it back to the family? I think that's a question for the police. Was that car given back too quickly? Maybe. Jeff Brinkley is Mason City's fourth police chief since Jody disappeared. Because the evidence that could have been in that car, especially given the technological advances since then, could be important

today. Right. But you don't have that evidence. We don't have it. But we just have to live with what we've got and try to do as good as we can with that. Chief Brinkley says they do have some DNA samples, and then there is that palm print. But police won't tell us exactly what other evidence they have. Is Tony Jackson still a person of interest? I'm not going to comment on that. Is John VanSythe still a person of interest? I can't comment on that. But findjody.com broke the news that in In 2017, John Van Seiss, who currently lives in Arizona, was still on police radar. The Mason City Police obtained a search warrant for GPS information on two of Van Seis' vehicles. What'd you make of that?

Very intrigued because it's the first thing we'd seen in years of any kind of official document. The warrant is sealed, but Caroline thinks police were looking for information that could have led to Jody. body. We surmised that they must have been trying to see if he was going to visit some site that he might have buried Jody. That piece didn't pan out like we'd hoped. No one was coming back from out of state to check out a potential body site. We didn't get any information that was useful.

Whatever information the police may have on anyone, they're not sharing. Why won't you talk about any specifics in this case? I don't want to let the cat out of the bag. Is there a cat in the bag? Do you have something? Not completely. No, no. I don't think we do yet.

But I think that we're very close. So does that mean we're talking about weeks, months? I don't think it's fast. It's not fast. I don't think it's fast. You ready? Yeah. 48 hours traveled to Phoenix to ask John Van Sice what he knows about Jody's disappearance.

Hi, John. My name's Jim Axelrod. I'm with the CBS News Burk here 48 hours. How are you? Hi. We're conducting an investigation into the disappearance of Jody, who's in truth. I don't want to ask you a couple of questions. John got a lot of people. On June 5th, 2018, on what would have been Jody's 50th birthday,

the Findjody.com team officially unveiled four billboards around Mason City. It's time to bring Jody home. Until then, these are the last images of Jody at Friends and Friends and family hold on to. Way to keep me in check. When I think about her, I think about all the fun we had. Welcome back to News Channel 3 Daybreak. She had a lot of sunshine to many people's world.

64 degrees already abundant sunshine here in Mason City. We're not giving up. Find Jody's not going to go away. I am staying on this until we find Jody. Somebody knows something. Is it you? Plenty of happy farmers out there, I'm sure. I have the tomato plants and lawns and all that stuff.

Welcome to midday. I'm Jody Housentruth. If you have any information about Jody Hoosentrude, please call the Mason City Police Department at 641-4-21-3636.